I think there could be a possibility that there could have been a man who did some good things to help others, but that he might have had some loyal followers who could have exaggerated his deeds. I also find it more plausible that a lot of his feats were made up by the Romans in order to control the masses.

It does seem like that has been a common occurrence throughout history where you have had men who have been lionized into god-like/messianic figures by people who were either close to them or influenced by them.

Absolutely not Jesus was an invented religion by the Romans during the Jewish revolt. It was an attempt to pacify the Jews who had in turn invented their religion after 722 BCE when the Assyrians conquered the region and exiled them. Until that point in history the people of that region had been Pagans and had worshiped fertility symbols (stone penises, boobs, butts, etc) and their largest structures were no larger than 20' X 20'. This is confirmed by both archaeology and the carbon dating of the Dead Sea Scrolls which are the first writings of Judaism. The dates of the first writings of and acceptance as a state religion of Christianity are very close and were obscured by the state on purpose. The bible itself is a confirmation of this as much of the history is faked and twisted to suit the needs of Rome itself. As was mentioned before the Romans borrowed and invented religions on a "needs based" basis and Jesus was a combination of Greek, Roman, and Egyptian gods with a name change, serial numbers filed off, a new paint job, and overnight a new religion emerged. Of course those gods had also been invented and were based on Hinduism and the Demigod Krishna (also known as "the Krist" ).

I haven't studied the subject, but the consensus seems to be that he did exist [en.wikipedia.org]

The idea of christ isn't made by Romans..... This Idea exist for years in Egypt as Houros ,In Persia and Rome as Mitra.... too many of Christian ceremonies come from mitraism. Too many churches was built on the top of mitra temples.... 24 december was Mitra's birthday and it was holiday in Rome before Jesus. it was political decision to choose a religion for Rome and Constantine chose christianism because his rival was a follower of Mitra and arch enemy of christianism....
Here is some examples:
12 disciplines, born from virgin mother, going to sky and promise to return, using candle and music in temple ,Eucharist , the les super and .....

Although Jesus was undoubtedly a normal man, the Romans definitely took advantage of the nascent religion’s distributed beginnings, cf. the Council of Nicaea. So option one and two are both right, to a certain extent. And it’s hard to argue against option three as far as the miracles are concerned.

i don't know (or care that much) but if he existed and was even minimally as described (divinity aside) he was jewish and did not have a greek name. if the greek name (thanks to paul's unsuccessful attempts to convert the greeks to judaism and his successful attempts to convince them jesus was a god) was an attempt to keep his real name more or less intact, his real name was likely joshua or yehoshua. at any rate, if he existed he may have been an essene. if he wasn't an essene, he was surely married with kids. it is almost impossible to believe we could ever know for sure whether he actually existed, but if he did, he was almost certainly nothing like the person portrayed in the christian bible (ANY version thereof), again divinity aside. anything he is said there to have said or done that might accidentally be historical is probably a stranger's interpretation of then-traditional judaism (the last supper's being a normal seder, for example, or his being pissed off at money-lenders being in the temple -- it has always been traditional for money not to be brought INTO temple much less dealt with!) understood through the lens of his judaism, he was more likely a rebel against change than for it, unless of course he was an essene, in which case he was one of the first jewish monks (not called that of course), recruiting young men into the religion instead of marrying and having kids and perpetuating the religion and culture that way. again, we'll never know. he could be as fictional as ulysses, or just a real guy who got fictionalized, and it won't make a bit of difference to those who invoke his name in reverence.

g

This is a good read here. It’s long and for me requires a lot of rereading and some searches to look up things, however it seems well founded.

[atheists.org]

This may be worth checking out.
However it appears to come from the view point he definitely existed.
It’s supposed to be presented without any religious tones. It’s s place to start.

[today.duke.edu]

It’s so crazy what’s out there. I’ve read a dozen articles today. Some religious, some scholarly, some publications.
There is such an agenda with Jesus with either trying to prove or disprove his existence. This is going to take some time and a lot of reading.

It’s interesting that there are so many differing opinions with in this thread. Everyone claiming them as facts, yet no one can deliver any source of knowledge, including myself.
Thank you for starting this post I’ve been reading and researching for days. There is a great deal of writings out there on the topic but differentiating fact from fiction is the difficulty.
I’ve yet to find one source I would view as credible.
Very interesting

Copy cat invented religion from Mythra Cult soldiers busy conquering evil Hebrews circumcizing baby boys

Though Jesus was a common name in those times, there is good evidence that a Christ-like figure known as Jesus of Nazareth did exist. There is also evidence that he could have been a composite of several Christ -like figures from the time. There is no credible evidence that he could actually perform miracles, or rose from the dead. And it has been established that the claim of him being born of a virgin is a mistranslation of the original Greek text. So he was just a mortal man with some good ideas, and some bad ideas, who was scientifically ignorant, and was duped into believing the primitive superstitions and fairy-tales of the Bible just like so many others.

I know Jesus.
He works in a boot factory in El Paso.
Very talented guy.

I don’t know.

I don’t know if there was ever a normal man who was named Jesus and these stories were twisted and exaggerated over the years to make it into the Bible. I don’t know if it’s just a legend made by a group of individuals who eventually wrote it down.

I highly doubt it was created by the Romans though. The Romans were organized in their justice system so if there was a man named Jesus tried for, I assume, treason then it would have been documented.

I’ve had few patients called Jesus. Of course in Spanish it’s pronounced ha-SOOS. Those of flesh are the only Jesus’s that’ll ever exist.

To answer the question, no the biblical Jesus didn't but there seems to be a few bits to suggest there may have been a person or persons with a bit more insight. That being said the region was probably so fucked up they'd have followed Kermit the Frog if he'd lived then.

The use of giving the name "Jesus" was common in that area at that time. So, it is likely that many Jesus' existed but a biblical one never did exist.

The Romans put someone on the cross, but the Romans put a lot of people on crosses.

Yes of course he did. He is well documented and was a great Rabbi of his time.